Dating Harry
by blackbanditt
Summary: Also entitled "What to Do When Your Boyfriend Is an Idiot." Harry's been acting odd lately, and Ginny doesn't want to know why--or rather, she doesn't want it to become her problem. Too late.


_Author's Notes:_ I wrote this for the birthday of a friend of mine; it is in no way meant to be taken seriously. :) 

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Friends do not belong to me, nor am I making any money off them._

--- 

Ginny hates seeing Harry Potter in love. 

She assumes it's love; he could be just acting like an idiot, for all she knows. 

Prancing around, smiling like the sun rises just for him, acting like nothing can ruin his day, and ignoring 99% of the population, including his breakfast? Definitely an idiot, or in love—or both. 

Ginny herself hasn't had a crush on the boy in years; she's had several boyfriends, charming and handsome and completely un-idiotic boys all, and is quite proud of the fact, thank you very much. 

So she has no _personal_ concern for Harry's matters of the heart, but the boy could have a little dignity, at least. If there is something Weasleys know, it's dignity. It's hard to be proud when you have nothing ('but family,' she reminds herself), but the Weasleys just manage it. 

Ginny just hopes whomever he loves has intelligence, so the girl can supervise him and keep him in line, and all that. She doesn't envy her the task. 

She loses interest in him after that, and her mind goes off to do something productive. Contrary to popular belief, the world doesn't revolve around Harry, and no one actually cares what he does. It is easy enough, to forget about him. 

--- 

Harry accosts her in the hallway one day, and she doesn't know why. 

He mumbles and fidgets and looks hopefully up at her, and it's all rather puzzling for Ginny. She hopes he'll get on with it, so she can go away and do something else. 

"Want to go on a date, Ginny?" he asks in a rush, and suddenly and horrifyingly it's all clear. 

"Not particularly," her mouth says before her brain catches up. She can only pray her face disguises her disgust at the idea that he was prancing around, thinking about _her_. What gave him the right, anyway? She finds the whole business completely invasive and disturbing. 

Meanwhile, Harry gapes at her. "You don't want to be my, uh, girlfriend?" He sounds shocked and hurt and, frankly, about to cry, so Ginny perseveres and doesn't just leave like she'd do with most anyone else. You have to be kinder to the weak ones, she supposes. 

"Well, it doesn't sound like a very good deal, does it?" she points out critically. "All that attention, and—you're not just doing this because I'm Ron's sister, are you?" 

"No!" Harry protests. His cheeks heat up a little. "IthinkI'minlovewithyou,Ginny," he mumbles, squirming under her gaze. 

"Hmm," is all she'll say. Then, impatiently but not unkindly, she advises, "Come back when you mean it, Harry," and walks away. 

She doesn't look back, although she supposes he probably hit something. Idiot. 

--- 

He comes up to her the next day in the common room. She's revising—some of them have to actually study to keep their grades up, oddly enough—and not all that pleased to see him. Still, she refrains from "What do you want?" and settles on "Yes, Harry?' in a testy tone of voice. 

"I brought you this." He shoves a bouquet of roses into her arms—if he messes up her essay, she'll push him down a staircase, Ginny decides immediately —and blushes. (Honorary Weasley for sure, that one.) 

"Roses?" she asks, holding the bunch away from her and eyeing the thorns nervously. "They're very nice, but you could have _asked_ what my favourite flower was, instead of just _assuming_…I happen to like gardenias better, you know." 

Harry's face falls. "Sorry. I could, you know, transfigure them—or have Hermione do it, at least," he suggests hopelessly. 

"Don't bother." She sighs, and disposes of the flowers with a handy Banishing spell. 

"Stop trying, alright?" she says wearily, bending her head back down to work. He must have left, after a while. 

--- 

The next day, it's chocolates. After that, jewelry, and then a pair of _song-birds_. She is quite worried it's going to be poetry next, although she can't hide a little blush at that thought. 

"Harry's stalking me," she mentions to Ron, off-handedly, one afternoon when they just happen to be in the same proximity. 

"I know," he replies happily. "I told him you liked him." 

"Why?" Ginny frowns, trying not to get angry. Trying _really hard_ not to get angry. 

Ron blinks. "You do, don't you?" 

Okay, so she yells at him for half an hour and sends him fleeing from the room. He deserves it. 

--- 

Ginny seeks _him_ out next, to bluntly and quietly crush his heart into a thousand pieces. 

"Harry," she says, grabbing his elbow and ignoring the elated smile that crosses his face. "I'm sorry if Ron misled you, but I don't like you. Not even a little bit." 

He frowns. "Not even a _little_ bit?" he repeats, slowly. 

"No." 

"Oh." He sits there for a few moments, biting his lip anxiously, and she can't move away until she sees his reaction. She can't _breathe_ until she sees his reaction. There is none. "Can't you, you know, just try it? For a little while?" His earnestness makes her want to deck him instantly, but she's immediately shocked and confused at the same time. 

Dazed and a little angry by his lack of fury, sadness, or well, anything, she finds herself agreeing just to see if he'll make any more sense. He doesn't. 

Later, she asks him why he didn't get upset. He simply replies, "I knew you'd accept," and when he smiles, her stomach jumps. 

--- 

Their first date is a disaster; their second is worse. On their walk around the lake, the ground is muddy and their palms are sweaty and they have nothing to say to each other. Hogsmeade weekend, they drink butterbeer and all he can do is brood about Voldemort and, possibly, Quidditch. He tries to kiss her and excels in slobbering, and when he has to rush off to save the world, she doesn't complain too much. 

Maybe that's all he's good for. 

She plans to dump him after the third date. She _does_ dump him after that; unfortunately, she soon realises that while breaking up with Harry is like kicking a sick puppy, taking him back is, if anything, worse. When he sits next to her on the sofa and grins awkwardly, offering to fetch her things, how can she argue? He makes it impossible when she asks what this has to do with the break-up, and he asks, "What break-up?" 

He may be cleverer than she's previously thought. 

And when he forgets her books on the way back from the library, she shakes her head and scolds, but she gives him another chance instead of hexing him into next week. 

--- 

Ginny doesn't like Ron's smug expression or Hermione's wink at dinner, and Harry has to spend quite a few minutes begging her into a good mood that evening. 

But she wakes up to a gardenia on her pillow and a warm hug in the common room and concludes that Harry really is getting better at this. 

She doesn't try to get rid of him again for at least a week, and when he's not trying so hard, his kisses are soft and sensitive. He has potential, and she'll teach him how to do it right, eventually. 

They smile at each other across crowded rooms and hold hands and snuggle together by the fire, and it is sickeningly sweet. Ginny tries not to mind this and can't wait until he's mature enough to be introduced to some of the finer parts of his anatomy. 

She will continue to entertain the idea that Harry has some passion in him until evidence proves otherwise; luckily, it doesn't. 

--- 

Ginny hates not seeing Harry Potter at all. It's worse than seeing him act like an idiot, and/or embarrassing her in public. 

She's beginning to miss him when he's not around, and is feeling quite worried about it. In fact, she suspects she's beginning to like the boy, and she's a great deal _more_ worried about that. 

Still, everyone loves Harry, and Ginny can't quite help herself. Plus, she's grown fond of him and his antics of late, and she's training him up to be a good boyfriend. 

She considers he might ask her to marry him someday, if he survives Voldemort, and if she hasn't received any better offers, she supposes she'll say "yes." 

She might just love the idiot, after everything, and that's a scary thought. 

END 


End file.
